Good to Great by Jim Collins - A Book Journal by Gopal Thiruvenkadam

1. Good To Great
By Jim Collins
Introduction
This book has inspired management professionals, executives,
entrepreneurs, managers and individuals selling millions of copies. It
talks about companies and its people who in their journey has
demonstrated a fanatic discipline exhibiting great values and qualities
in achieving successes and leaps. It also talks about comparison
companies where people by their choice and qualities have failed to
succeed on the same platform. In giving us the tale of comparisons, the book also
provides tools and action plans for individuals who want to thrive and achieve
greatness and become leaders in what they do.
About Jim Collins
Source: http://www.jimcollins.com
Jim Collins is a student and teacher of enduring great companies—how they grow, how
they attain superior performance, and how good companies can become great
companies. Having invested nearly a quarter of a century of research into the topic,
Jim has authored or coauthored six books that have sold in total more than ten million
copies worldwide. They include the classic Built to Last, a fixture on the Businessweek
bestseller list for more than six years; the international bestseller Good to Great,
translated into 35 languages; and How the Mighty Fall, a New York Times bestseller that
examines how great companies can self-destruct.
His most recent book is Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck—Why Some
Thrive Despite Them All, coauthored with Morten Hansen.
Target Audience
Although the books is written in context to business and management professionals, it is
a definitive read for any professional in transforming them from good to great
regardless of their profession or culture.

2. Book Summary
In this section we provide the key summary of content in this book, chapter by chapter.
CHAPTER 1: GOOD IS THE ENEMY OF GREAT
Jim talks about questions that seeded the basis for this book. Is the disease of “just being
good” incurable? Can a good company become great company? Chapter 1 provides
the data and statistics that Jim and his research team had to collect and select to
arrive answers to how few companies were able to make an amazing transformation
and exceed market expectations. The analysis took companies from different industry
sectors such as retail, pharmacy, manufacturing, electronics etc. The transformation
exhibited by some good to great companies fueled the curiosity and Jim and his
research team were able to identify clues inside their “black box”.
CHAPTER 2: LEVEL 5 LEADERSHIP
An organizations’ core asset is its people. And the people in the leadership and
management make the key decisions that drives the results in the organization. The
execs of these good to great companies had Level 5 leadership during their
transformation. Examples of how leaders of Kimberly-Clark, Gillette and Fannie Mae
showed unique traits of personalities and diligence gives an idea of how their
astonishing will in keeping ambitious but remarkably humble led great transformations
and results for the organization.

3. CHAPTER 3: FIRST WHO…THEN WHAT
The idea of First Who..Then What is about finding the right people on the bus
(organization). It’s about who you pay and not how you pay them that matters. The
good to great companies are in fact tough places to work and people who don’t have
the traits to adapt to a disciplined culture that’s rigorous cannot survive there. Having
the wrong people hang in the bus is going to demotivate the right people to get off the
bus. Jim touches on the philosophical aspect of works and relationships, “if we don’t
spend the vast majority of our time with people we love and respect, we cannot
possibly have a great life”.

4. CHAPTER 4: CONFRONT THE BRUTAL FACTS (YET NEVER LOSE FAITH)
One of the two distinctive forms of discipline the good to great companies displayed is
that they infused their process with brutal facts of reality fostering a climate where truth
is heard from all levels. Jim details on how it was done in these transformation
companies also with a reference to Stockdale Paradox which is a personality
development lesson to all individuals.
CHAPTER 5: THE HEDGEHOG CONCEPT
In this interesting chapter, Jim talks about how the essence of profound insight is
simplicity. Tracing through Walgreen’s most simple hedgehog concept of “high profit
per customer visit” and how the breakthrough strategy though extremely simple was

5. transformational by strategic program and fanatical consistency that led to great
results. Also understanding that it takes years for get a hedgehog concept, the but the
good to great companies produced superior economic returns by “sticking to it” with
consistency.
CHAPTER 6: A CULTURE OF DISCIPLINE
Building a disciplined culture primarily consists of fostering a culture around the idea of
freedom and responsibility, fill it with self-disciplined people and adhere in great
consistency with the three circles of their hedgehog concept. A great company is
much more likely to die of indigestion from too much opportunity than starvation from
too little. A good comparison of Nucor and Bethlehem Steel illustrates who choosing the
right opportunities with fanatical adherence to their hedgehog concept produced
sustained results.

6. CHAPTER 7: TECHNOLOGY ACCELERATORS
The good to great companies believe that technology is not the root cause of
greatness but just an accelerator of the momentum. The good to great do not ignore
the advancements in technology, but they respond with creativity driven by
compulsion to turn unrealized potential into astonishing results. The comparison of
Walgreens and drugstore.com show how each of their perception of technology and
choices let to the results.
CHAPTER 8: THE FLYWHEEL AND THE DOOM LOOP
Another interesting chapter talks about the inside process of how good to great
companies persevered by not reaching their greatness overnight, but in action by
action, step by step all that adds to sustained and spectacular results. The
transformation that happened wasn’t dramatic, though revolutionary when seen from
the outside, on the inside it’s an organic process with the discipline to follow the build-
up breakthrough flywheel model. The comparison companies tried to jump into action
immediately without buildup and lack consistency.

7. CHAPTER 9: FROM GOOD TO GREAT TO BUILT TO LAST
In this final chapter, Jim talks building the endurance and sustainability of companies
that has made the transformation from good to great. Companies must create and
endure their core values and purpose regardless of what it is, and only adapt their
business strategies and operating practices according to the changing world.
In addition to the above chapters Jim also provides some resourceful FAQ and
appendices and that really worth the read.
Interesting Artifacts
• Stockdale Paradox
• “Stop-doing” lists are more important than “to-do” lists
• Are you a fox or a hedgehog?
• Flywheel and Doom loop comparison
• Nucor’s culture
• Why greatness?

8. Lessons for Businesses
• Build a culture of discipline that’s rigorous but not ruthless
• Not just visionary leaders, but leaders with Level 5 leadership skills
• Right people on the bus
• Hedgehog concept
• Entrust and faith in the Flywheel model
• Preserve the core, Stimulate progress
• Perception of technology
• Hedgehog concept with diverse business portfolio rarely produces results
Lessons for Individuals
• Being good is not enough
• Hedgehog concept
• Flywheel model – Astonishing results come from step by step actions and
endurance
• Have BHAG
• Building great leadership skills and commitment
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